Job description

The School of Life Course and Population Sciences, King’s College London, is looking to appoint to the posts of Operations Officer (Education). This is an exciting role, responsible for providing operational leadership and support across education related administrative processes in a diverse academic environment with over 350 experts in women and children's health, nutritional sciences, population health and the molecular genetics of human disease. The two post holders will have oversight and operational responsibility for the School’s postgraduate research (PGR) and postgraduate taught (PGT) programmes, working collaboratively with the School Manager, School Lead (Education) and the School Academic Lead (Postgraduate Research), and colleagues across the Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine. These posts will appeal to personable, high-performing individuals with experienced in supporting education related activities in Higher Education.

 

The successful candidates will: 

 

•        Act as the first point of contact for all School staff and students for PGR issues, including pastoral care, resolving and responding to problems and queries quickly

•        Support postgraduate research students and supervisors during student recruitment, induction, progression, and assessment, liaising with the Centre for Doctoral Studies, registry, and Education Support Services

•        Promote student welfare and a positive student experience and support innovations to improve the student experience across the School and Faculty

•        Promote and develop education and training initiatives within the School, working closely with the School Lead (Education)

•        Have a broad and in-depth knowledge of HE polices, processes and systems, work with all School/Faculty staff to solve problems and provide solutions, efficiently and effectively

•        Prepare communications, draft presentations, briefing documents and background materials as required

•        Support the planning and organisation of events and projects, such as postgraduate research symposiums

•        Foster a stimulating, innovative and inclusive cultural environment across the School enabling students and staff to thrive and develop, ensuring that processes and policies are visible, accessible and transparent

 

We are recruiting two posts:  

 

Post 1: This is a full-time post - 100% full time equivalent / 35 hours per week offered on an indefinite contract

 

Post 2: This is a part-time post - 60% full time equivalent / 21 hours per week. This is a maternity cover post and will be offered on an a fixed-term contract for 12 months or on return of the substantive postholder

 

  Key responsibilities

Work closely with the School Manager, the School PGR Lead and the School Lead (Education) to ensure education support for the School:   

•       is aligned with the wider Faculty and university education support functions 

•       is professional, well-executed and timely  

•       is compliant with university policies 

•       adopts best practice. 

 

•       Act as the first point of contact for all School staff and students for PGR issues, including pastoral care, resolving, and responding to problems and queries quickly 

•       Develop a detailed understanding of the School’s education offer, research profile and facilities 

•       Project manage and support education and training initiatives within the School, as well as promoting these programmes 

•       Support the School Manager and School Lead (Education) with the preparation of the School’s submission to the Teaching Excellence Framework 

•       Support the School Lead (Education) and other academic colleagues in the growth of distance learning provision, the development of new short/CPD course provision, outreach and work experience programmes 

•       Research and prepare cases for suspension of regulations on behalf of supervisors of PGR students for consideration by the School 

•       Provide local guidance and training on education matters, such as the interaction between a colleague’s area of responsibility, the wider education programme and roles in the undergraduate, PGT or PGR programmes within the School 

•       Provide administrative support for visiting students, Erasmus+, outreach programmes including work experience, and summer work experience projects 

•       Provide support to the implementation and roll-out of initiatives to improve the student experience 

•       Engage with initiatives that support and enhance student welfare  

•       Support student committees and events including the postgraduate symposia 

•        Build strong working relationships with School staff, students and key partners within and beyond the university 

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.  

Skills, knowledge, and experience 

Essential criteria  

1.      Educated to degree level or relevant experience 

2.      Proven commitment to ongoing skills development 

3.      Proven Professional Services skills gained within the Higher Education sector and a detailed knowledge of the regulatory, policy and procedural context along with the challenges and opportunities faced by the sector 

4.      Detailed understanding of education provision in Higher Education institutions, the regulatory context and best practice 

5.      Highly numerate with proven financial management and analytical skills to underpin strategic financial decisions and procedure 

6.      Experience of building an effective network across a complex organisation and with external stakeholders 

7.      Experience of using complex databases and management information systems 

8.      Ability to work under pressure in a busy environment 

9.      Commitment to good practice and following process/procedure 

10.  A commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, actively addressing areas of potential bias 

 

Desirable criteria

1.      Knowledge of research practice and policy in health (bioscience/medicine) 

2.      Experience of financial planning and implementation, including preparing budget, financial profiling, preparing business cases and plans, and monitoring key performance indicators, budgets and risks 

3.      Committee servicing 

Further information

Candidates are strongly encouraged to specifically address the essential criteria outlined in the Person Specification in their covering letter.  

 

Whilst working within the framework agreed with the post holder’s line manager/s, the post holder is expected to manage their own workload and is expected to be flexible in anticipating and responding to shifting and competing demands on their and the wider team’s time.  It is expected that the post will work with minimum regular supervision but will refer to their line-managers for advice on issues which fall outside existing regulatory or policy frameworks. 

 

Please note

 

This job description reflects the core activities of the post. There may be changes in the emphasis of duties and it is expected that the post holder recognises this, adopting a flexible approach to work and willingness to participate in training.  Day-to-day activities and responsibilities will be determined by the School priorities and needs, and will inform specific objectives and tasks to be undertaken by post holders.   

 

As this is a generic job description to be used across the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine, if changes to the post become significant, the line manager of the post holder is to discuss potential amendments to the job description with Human Resources, in liaison with the Faculty. 

 

The School of Life Course & Population Sciences is one of six Schools that make up the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine at King’s College London. The School unites over 400 experts in women and children’s health, diabetes, nutritional sciences, population health and the molecular genetics of human disease. Our research links the causes of common health problems to life’s landmark stages, treating life, disease and healthcare as a continuum. We are interdisciplinary by nature and this innovative approach works: 91 per cent of our research submitted to the Subjects Allied to Medicine (Pharmacy, Nutritional Sciences and Women's Health cluster) for REF 2014 was rated as world-leading or internationally excellent. We use this expertise to teach the next generation of health professionals and research scientists. Based across King’s Denmark Hill, Guy’s, St Thomas’ and Waterloo campuses, our academic programme of teaching, research and clinical practice is embedded across six Departments 

About the Faculty:   https://www.kcl.ac.uk/lsm/index.aspx